NY-20 Congressional Race Update, Murphy Leads

It happened back on March 31st and is still being argued in court (Hello Minnesota!) but it may be coming to an end sometime soon. Republican Jim Tedisco was battling Democrat Scott Murphy to replace Kirsten Gillibrand who was appointed to fill Hillary Clinton’s Senate Seat. The race is for New York State’s 20th congressional district which includes counties around Albany and many to the south.

CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. — There was no major ruling Monday in Dutchess County, but Democrats there think the writing is on the wall for Jim Tedisco.

“I think it is pretty clear the numbers are not in his favor,” said Henry Berger, a lawyer for Scott Murphy.

And in elections, you better believe it is all about the numbers. Right now, Democrat Scott Murphy leads Republican Jim Tedisco by nearly 300 votes.

In front of Dutchess County Court House, Berger says it might be time for Tedisco to throw in the towel.

“If they stop counting he loses and based on the number of challenges, he’s out challenged us two to one. So if we continue to count, he loses,” Berger says.

“We are talking about 200 votes separating the parties and by some counts over 1,800 absentee ballots. Numerically, that’s awful lot of ballots to be counted,” said James Walsh, a campaign lawyer for Jim Tedisco.

In Saratoga County, where Tedisco won, the challenges are about 50-50. But Berger says Republican objections in counties were Murphy won outnumber Democratic challenges in those places overwhelmingly. For example, in Columbia County, Democrats objected to a few dozen. Republicans challenged a few hundred ballots. Berger believes a good chunk of those will come back. But Walsh says a lot of those votes were made by people who don’t live in the district and shouldn’t count.

“My client has instructed me to make sure every valid ballot is counted and that is what I am carrying out,” said Walsh.

And even with Judge James Brands allowed Republicans to reargue last week’s order that disallowed challenges based on ballot applications, some in Tedisco’s party say this race is already over.

Former National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Davis told the Washington Times Sunday, “We lost the special election in New York. It’s gone.”

The only order from Judge James Brands on Monday was that he wants all objected to ballots delivered to the State Board of Elections by Thursday.

Report from Fox 23 Albany:

We’ll continue to follow the story as I see many people have been searching for news on the subject.

It’s important to note that no winner has been officially declared yet as the battle still rages in the courtroom and the counting/recounting of ballots.